Door



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J. P. s'roRMs DOOR Filed Aug. 5, 1921 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Culo: muy) DOOR.

Application led August 5, 1921.

To all A'whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN P. SroRMs, a citizen of the United States of America, and resident of Enid, in the county of Garield and State of Oklahoma, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Doors, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to flexible doors, and particularly to doors of this type which are moved upward to open the doorway and in which a iexible andl variable counter balancing mechanism is employed which aids in the operation of the door and serves to retain it in dierent positions, either open or partially open.

An object of this inventionis to provide a door of the character indicated in which.

a iexible counter balancing mechanism may be located at a point remote from the door, the fiexible counter balancing mechanism being connected to the door at one end and the ot er end being connected to a ixed part or support, so that the counter weight will have variable points of lexure to accord with the position of the door.

`It is furthermore an object of this invention to produce a door which will operate without the application of undue orce, since provision is made for reducing the friction and facilitating its operation.

lt is a still further object of this invention to produce a door having a counter weight in which the-mechanism employed is comparatively simple and inexpensive.

A still further object of this invention is to produce novel means whereby the weights are held in operative relation to the mechanism to prevent the weights becoming entangled with the chain or support to which they are connected, provision being also 'ma e to relieve the weight on the cable or element to which the weights are connected, under certain conditions of use. y

With the foregoing and other objects in view, the invention .consists in the details of construction, and in the arrangement and combination/ofparts to be hereinafter more fully set forth and claimed.

In describing the invention in erence will be had to the 'accompanymg drawings forming part of this application wherein like characters denote correspondinlg. arts in the several views, and in w 1c Figure 1 illustratesia sectional view' of lsembled relation to eachother,

detail, ref;v

semi no. asoma embodying the a building, showin a door 'Invention applied t creto;

Figure 2 1l ustrates a sectional line 2-2 of Fig. 1;

Figure 3 illustrates a top plan view of the door and its supports with the guides in section;

Figure 4 illustrates an enlarged detailed view of the weights and parts associated view on the with them; and

Figure 5 illustrates a sectional `view through a fragment of the door, showing a guide in section.

ln these drawings denotes the building to which the door is applied, the said door comprising a plurality of horizontally disposed slats 11, the interengaging edges of which are preferably shaped to form interlocking pints. The slats are held in assem- -bled relation elements 12 which are secured to the hacks of the slats to permit the slats to move with relation to each other, rl`hese exible elements may be of leather, webbing or other material e'ective to hold the slats in asas'stated, and the saido exible members or some of are guided over rollers 13v rotatably mounted in connection with a shaft 14 at the top of the doorway.

The door frame is usually provided with guide strips 15 a recess in which the ends ofv the slats may slide to provide a way, the outer strip being curved opposite the roller.

Rails 16 have their ends supported above the door opening, and these rails extend rearwardly and preferably upwardlyslightly and terminate near the rear of the structure, in the presentV embodiment of the invention. The rails are either spaced apart or they may be grooved as shown at 17, to

receive. carriers for anti-friction rollers 18 which have vappropriate journals to support the door as it moves rearwardly over 'the rails 16, two of the flexible members 12 preferably Iengaging the anti-friction rollers, as shown in Figure 2.

A exible yoke 19 has its vends connected to two or' the Hexible members at the top of the door, and the said yoke is connected to a cable 20 which operates over a pulley or sheave 21 on a shaft 22 which is supported' at the rear ofthe rails. The cable terminates .just beyond the sheave or pulley 21 to' each other by exible them which are spaced to provide lid@ ' when the door is in y asa chain 23 forms closed position, and it is intended that the end of the cable shall descend as the door is elevated.

As a means for counter balancing the weight of the door,

a continuation of the cable, and a portion of'this chain may be formed of a series of weighted links 24, the weight of the links depending upon the size of the weight of the door, and they should be of such size as to counterbalance the weight of the door without overcoming the friction attending the operation of the door. lt is the purpose of the inventor that manual power shall be applied to overcome the friction, otherwise the door would be held open by the weights. As shown in Figure 4 of the drawing, the lower end of the chain 23 is preferably anchored as at 25 above the floor of the structure', in order that one end of the flexibly connected links 2d, which form a counter weight that exerts a variable pull upon the flexible door as a portion of the chain-like weight will hang vertically from the anchorage 25 fora portion of its length when the door is raised.

The weight of the chain at one end is carried on the anchor member 25 when the of that portion -with the supports or with the rollers car- Gti door is open, thus relieving the )cable of such weight and permitting the door to be. pulled to a closed position with little or no force. It will also be observed that when the door is closed, the weight of the chain will permit the door to be opened with the application of very little power, and when the door is pulled from an open to a closed position, the weighted links are gradually removed from the anchor to the cable whereas the" reverse -action occurs when the door is being opened. This results in balancing the weight of the links during the manipulation of thedoor.

rlhe structure shown embodies `a flexible and vertically slidable door which when raised moves upon rearward and upward inclined rails or supports maintained at an. inclination and adapted to carry the weight of the door which contacts ried thereby, the counter balancing weight is connected to the door by appropriate flexible connections to which the exible counter balancing weights are attached, so that one end of the series of weights will hang from a guide roller, the other end of the weights engaging at a suitable elevation a fixed support or fastening 25. The structure organized as shown or in any other appropriate manner to embody the means set forth or equivalents thereof provides a vertically movable articulated door, a support for such door which will carry the entire or a portion of the weight of the door, and an automatically variable counter weight the gravity pull thereof operating a exible element such upon the door and changing relative thereto in accord and under control as to the position of the door, so in use the pull of the weight upon the door will decrease in pro` portion to its vertical position. @ne end of the counter-balancing weight being fixedly maintained and the other endl being vertically movable provides a loop or catenary which is variable or changeable vertically, efecting when the door is in its lowest position, the greatest pull upon the door, the force of the pull diminishing as the door is raised, and the weight thereof is transferred to the supports and in accord with such movement of lthe door or closure a proportion of thenweight of the flexible counter-weight will-be carried lby the fixed support, and thus the amount of pullupon the door will vary in accord with the verticall movable point of suspension that accor s with the pull of the door downward less the weight of the` door carried by the supports.

'llhis improvement in door operating means is particularly adapted for garage use or like buildings, where it is desirable to keep the entire Hoor clear and to provide in such a structure, means whereby themanual elfort to open and close the doorway may be varied at the start of the opening or closing by changing the effective length of the counterbalancing linked weight. ln use, the rearward and upward inclined supports are en aged by an intermediate portion of the dior and the flexible connection between the door and the weight is between the inclined supports.

ll claiml. ln a flexible door, slats forming the door Hexible elements attached to the slats for holding them in assembled relation to one another, vertical guides for the said door for engagement with the ends of the slats, pairs of rails which extend inwardly and lengthwise of the structure upwardly from the door opening, anti-friction rollers between each pair of rails which extend above the rails to be engaged b the door, a yoke with diverging ends whic are connected to the door, a cable attached to the converging ends of the yoke and extend" g rearwardly therefrom, a pulley centrally ocated adja-f cent to the rear wall of the structure over,

nol v which the cable travels, a lexible and vertiand means for y ing, pulleys at the outer ends of the rails is guided to the rails,

over which the door rails' extending inwardly and upwardlyl f necaeea the counterweight wil (have` its catenary) vertically movable to accord with the position of the door. Y

3.V In a lexible door, slats having iding means, flexible elements connecting t e said slats, a pair of intermediately positioned from the door, means for guiding the door to the said rails, a cable connected to the door, a pulley over which the cable may travel, a chain-like counter weight connected at one end to the said cable, and means for anchoring the opposite end of the counter weight in fixed position above the floor of the building.

4. An articulated vertically movable door, supports which incline upward and rearward .from a point above and rearward of the doorway for maintaining the door when raised, a flexible counter weight connected at one end with ,the door, means lfor maintaining the opposite end of said counter weight in looped formation with a fixed point of suspension, to plrovide a variable pull upon the door whic accords with its position upon the inclined supports. y

5. In combination with an articulated vertically movable door and inclined ways for supporting such door when raised, of counter balancing means'for the door comprising a flexible counterweight and a suitably guided connection .attached to the door and to said flexible counter weight, one end of said c'ounterweight being maintained to provide a vertically movable point of suspension, the other end engaging means to provide a fixed point of suspension, both points of suspension being positioned to jointly carry the entire weight `of the flexible counter weight.

6. In combination with a vertically movable articulated door, rearward and upward inclined means for supporting the door or a part thereof when raised, of a flexible counter weight for thev door having a movable point of suspension which varies in accord with the position of the door and a fixed point of suspension organized to provide for a variable pull upon theV door to accord with the position of the door.

JOHN P. STORMS. 

